


In the Quiet of the Night

by eatjamfast



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 16:56:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13058232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eatjamfast/pseuds/eatjamfast
Summary: More often than not, it was fear of the nightmares that kept Shiro up at night. Not the nightmares themselves.





	In the Quiet of the Night

 

More often than not, it was _fear_ of the nightmares that kept Shiro up at night. Not the nightmares themselves.

It was easier to breathe when he could feel the rise and fall of Keith's chest against his cheek, but it didn't make letting the sleep in any less daunting. As soon as he closed his eyes phantom pains lanced up the deepest of his abdominal scarring and echoes of screams, both his and those he'd been pitted against, rang faintly in his ears.

When Allura had gently confronted him about his increasingly frequent PTSD symptoms, Shiro had brushed her off. As far as he was concerned, and what the garrison had unhelpfully breezed over in his training, PTSD was cinematic flashbacks and easily cured with all sorts of pills and potions.

All he had was moments where he zoned out and fell too deeply into dark recesses of his mind that were better left alone, and that was on him, not trauma. 

 _Keep kidding yourself, maybe one day you'll actually believe it,_ that snide voice in the back of his head griped maliciously. The nightmares weren't so easy to explain away. 

Sighing, Shiro shifted and pulled Keith against his chest gently, careful not to wake him. You don't realise how precious sleep is until you won't let yourself have it, he mused to himself. Kissing the taut skin over the top of Keith's spine softly, Shiro tentatively let his eyes flutter shut.

Focusing on the sleep-steady rhythm of Keith's heart where it rested under his palm, Shiro took another deep breath and let himself relax further.

When he was positive none of those ghostly reminders would force their way into his mind, he went slack against his boyfriend's back, relief washing over him so dramatically that he didn't realise how much tension he'd been holding in his body.

Mumbling something incoherent in his sleep, Keith lazily shuffled around until his face was pressed in the juncture between Shiro's neck and shoulder, lips resting just shy of the skin so Shiro could feel every slow gust of breath that passed them.

It warmed his heart that Keith reacted to him so naturally, even in his sleep. From the very beginning, when they started spending time together in the garrison, there had been this strange magnetism between them that Shiro was forced to recognise. When Keith moved, Shiro had somehow been drawn to move with him, when he laughed there was nothing he could do but laugh along with him, and when Kerberos went down he could feel Keith's grief alongside his own. Maybe that last one was a stretch too far, Shiro admitted to himself, but the point still stood. Even before they came together romantically, their bond had been a force to be reckoned with.

 _Probably doesn't hurt our potential to form Voltron, either,_ he thought.

Before he had a chance to build up some anxiety about it, he had drifted off to sleep and sank into the welcoming darkness gratefully.

 

The next thing Shiro knew, he was screaming.

Cold sweat clung to his fringe where it lay plastered against his forehead and all he could feel was a heavy pressure on his chest. They were _on_ him, and he couldn't _move_ . Kicking his limbs wildly, he hit out, praying he could push off his attacker because he wasn't ready yet – _he had to survive this_ , had to get home, had to warn everyone! It couldn't end like this, it just c _ouldn't_ –

“ _SHIRO_!” Keith's voice yanked him back into a sensate reality and he blinked away the hysteria, staring up at the man sat on his chest in shock. He had his arms pinned above his head with one hand, the other pressed to the clammy skin of his neck soothingly.

“K – Keith?” Shiro rasped, “What...?”

“Nightmare,” Keith said quietly and Shiro grit his teeth, muscles still locked up tightly from the fear.

Why. Why did this always happen just when he thought things would be getting better? Would there never be just one night where he'd find the peace he needed in Keith's arms?

Keith let go of his wrists and eased himself down next to him, hands moving to turn him so he could cup his jaw and stroke gently over his cheekbones. Shiro wrapped his arms around Keith tightly, letting the feeling of his sleep-warmed skin seep into his bones, wanting it to chase away the chills that left them shaking in violent tremors.

Shiro squeezed his eyes shut and moaned desperately against Keith's neck, “I need – I need – ”

“I know.” Keith interrupted him, “I know, baby, just – come here.”

Rolling them so he was settled soundly between Keith's legs, Shiro rested over him on his forearms, pressing their lips together in a determination to press closer to the man beneath him. Times like this, he wished so much that he could just focus on what was happening, on how perfectly their lips moved together without that insistent ringing in his ears.

Keith's mouth opened under his, and their tongues brushed against each other with a relieving familiarity that grounded Shiro into the moment. Letting his hand drift down from Keith's face to stroke firmly down his side, Shiro tilted his head, deepening the kiss further.

The way Keith's hands reflected the movement along Shiro's back was comforting but it wasn't _enough,_ he needed something _more._

Groaning against Keith's mouth as he pushed their hips together, and he could feel him nodding encouragingly, shifting so their erections were aligned under their clothing.

Shiro indulged himself for a while longer, losing himself in the wet slide of their lips, the always shockingly intimate way Keith would thrust his tongue into his mouth and the insistent friction of Keith's hips grinding against his own.

Breaking apart, Shiro wriggled out of his arms which were wound tightly around his neck and slid down to press hot, open-mouthed kisses against Keith's jawline, groaning when he threw his head back to reveal more skin for him to lavish his attention on.

Shiro made his way down his chest, pressing kisses wherever he could as he moved down, Keith's back arched and Shiro felt his heartbeat go from stuttering post-nightmare to simply pounding from the sound of Keith's quiet breaths filling the room and the feeling of his warmed skin against his lips.

Lifting his hips helpfully as he pulled down his sleep shorts, Keith's hands moved to tangle in his hair expectantly.

He knew the drill. Whenever the nightmares got too much, all Shiro needed was him. He needed him however he'd let him have him, and they had never suffered through a time when he didn't want him either even when his mind was a mess and tears stained his cheeks so that made everything significantly easier.

He nosed affectionately at the sharp jut of Keith's hip bone, fully aware of the way his cheek whispered against the curve of his cock.

“Shiro, c'mon, baby,” Keith whispered to him. It pulled at his heartstrings that he still spoke so quietly in these moments, that his noises were always so subdued like they were back at the barracks where every swish of the sheets and smack of their lips sounded deafening in the quiet of the night.

They were in the castle now, with walls so thick their sleeping comrades next door would have a hard time waking up if they both screamed at the top of their lungs.

Smiling, Shiro nodded and slipped his fingers around the base of his cock without any more preamble.

He rarely denied anything Keith asked of him, because it was usually exactly what he wanted too. And what they both wanted at that moment was the firm weight of Keith's dick resting just shy of the back of Shiro's throat.

Laving his tongue up the length of him, revelling in the sharp gasp that escaped him, Shiro worked his hand at the base of Keith's cock, letting it slide in the saliva he'd left there before he gave in to his own desires and took him into his mouth, bobbing up and down slowly, swirling and massaging his tongue over the head of him.

Keith's hands tangled in the white, longer strands of hair and stroking his thumbs over the sensitive skin behind his ears as he made encouraging noises for him.

Bitter presend filled Shiro's mouth but he didn't have it in him to care when the sound of Keith's aborted whining was filling his ears, it only spurred him on to move faster, to suck harder on the upstroke and open his throat wider for him as he pressed down.

“Jesus – _Christ, S – Shiro_ ,” Keith yelped as he swallowed around him, his fingers tightening painfully in his hair, but that pain was the dull sort of hurt that went straight to his gut, that made his cock jump where it was confined in his pants. “Shiro, you – you need to stop, I'm gonna come.”

Drawing off of Keith's cock with an obscene pop, Shiro dragged the back of his hand across his spit-slick lips and considered Keith where he lay sprawled out beneath him. Face flushed, lips swollen from bites and thighs fallen widely to each side of him and let out a shaky breath.

“Don't you wanna?” Shiro rasped.

“Want you inside me, wanna come with you,” Keith whispered, pulling him down for another deep kiss.

“Okay,” he said against his mouth, his heart skipping a beat as he felt him smile against him before dipping his tongue in. Shiro continued to let him lead with slack, mindless kisses as he reached over to his night stand and fumbled around for the lubricant he'd managed to swipe from one of the planets they'd been to recently.

 

Keith was almost silent as Shiro entered him, his jaw slack and eyes squeezed tightly shut, brows furrowed in the pleasure-pain of the stretch. He drew out before slowly thrusting back in, easing himself into him with gentle movements until he bottomed out and all he could focus on was the heat, and the tightness and _Keith._

Moaning lowly, Shiro surged forwards and crushed their lips together, sliding his tongue into Keith's mouth and pressing it against the backs of his teeth. Keith's mouth opened on a whine, scrambling for purchase against Shiro's shoulders as he pressed against his tongue desperately, their lips sliding wetly against each other.

Pulling apart, Shiro pressed their foreheads together, his own brows pulled tight together as he kept his hips flush against Keith's, trying not to move until he gave him the go-ahead.

“I'm okay, it's okay,” he nodded, “God, just please – I need – ”

“I know, baby,” Shiro smiled fondly, mirroring his own words back to him, “let me take care of you, huh?”

“Shiro.” was all he said, was all he needed to say, as Shiro rolled his hips fluidly out, then back into him.

If Keith was about to scream, it had splintered in his throat and was that was left were sharp sounds of “ _ah, ah, ah_ ” that rode out of him with ever laboured breath he took. Tightening his wiry legs around Shiro's hips, he rolled his ass back onto each hard thrust Shiro pushed into him with.

Shiro sat up from where he was draped over him so he could grip his thighs, pulling them from around him and hooking them over his shoulders. Moving into Keith with slow, firm thrusts Shiro revelled in the way he came undone beneath him, eyes rolling back into his head every time he got the angle just right and pushed the blunt head of his cock against Keith's prostate.

“ _Keith, Keith, Keith_ ,” he murmured reverently, and Keith just groaned in response, loosing himself in Shiro's love.

It wasn't a rarity for them to fuck slowly, but it was exactly frequent either. Keith would, more often than not, need the heat and pseudo-violence of rough sex to ignite that fire within him, to get off properly and while Shiro was more than willing to comply with that, having his own desires that overlapped with Keith's suspiciously well, there were times when they both needed the gradual build of a good, slow fuck.

And the way he was trembling in his arms, making beautiful, tiny little noises every time his cock brushed against his prostate, told Shiro he was closer to the edge than even he knew.

But Shiro himself was, too. Heat coiled low in his gut, and when Keith opened his eyes all he could focus on was how beautiful he looked with his pupils blown, leaving just a thin ring of violet around them.

Looking up at Shiro through his dark lashes he gave him a small, lazy smile. Making an almost infantile grabbing motion with his hands, Shiro leaned forward to let him have him, almost bending him in half as he continued to pound into him, albeit a little more erratically now he was hovering so close to his own edge, while he pressed short, chaste kisses against his lips.

“Come for me, Shiro, please?” Keith said quietly, whispering it into Shiro's ear before taking his lobe between his teeth. Moaning loudly, Shiro nodded and allowed himself to get lost in his heat as he chased after his orgasm. Resolute in his pace, he didn't speed up but every time he pulled back he slammed back in with enough force to leave red marks on the backs of Keith's thighs.

It didn't take him long to live up to Keith's request, and just as he felt that tension snap from within him, he pulled out, bringing himself off with just two pumps of his hand so he came over Keith's chest noisily.

Exhaustion set into his bones after the last of his aftershocks stopped making his body twitch unconsciously, but he ignored it as best as he could at the sound of Keith's appreciative noises and mantra of “ _Shiro_ ” and “ _yes_ ” and “ _fuck me, you're so beautiful”_.

Wiping his hand unceremoniously on the sheets, Shiro pressed three fingers back into Keith with ease, licking his lips as he reached around with his other hand to jerk him off.

Keith panted, rocking back onto Shiro's fingers, falling back into whatever head space he'd had before. They quickly found a rhythm together and it wasn't long before Keith was making those same short, staccato noises he always made right before he came and it just spurred Shiro on.

With one last twist of his hand at the head of Keith's weeping cock, he felt Keith's ass clench down tightly over his fingers as he came with a broken groan, deep in his throat.

Letting go of his cock, Shiro continued to pump his fingers in and out methodically until he had Keith slamming his heel down desperately against Shiro's back, speechless from sensitivity.

Falling to the side, Shiro couldn't keep his hands of Keith, marvelling at him as he lay with his jaw slack and eyes shut as he came around from his orgasm.

He let fingers trail over the quick rise and fall of Keith's abdomen, uncaring of the way they slipped crudely through their come. Keith on the other hand, winced and looked down at Shiro's hand pointedly.

“Don't be gross,” he grumbled, flicking Shiro's forehead. “Get me a towel.”

“Mmm, okay.”

Hopping out of bed, Shiro leaned in through the door of the refresher and quickly dampened a flannel under the hot tap and returned to where Keith was now sat up on the bed.

Once they were both wiped down as best Shiro could do in his state of exhaustion, they lay tangled in one another's arms in silence. Shiro wondered vaguely if Keith had fallen back to sleep, but his question was answered when Keith spoke up in the darkness of the room.

“Do you want to talk about the nightmare?” he asked, and Shiro sighed by way of answer. “I get it. You're gonna have to talk about it some day though, you know that right? I can't watch you like this for much longer, it hurts too much.”

Shiro smiled. He thought it was sneaky that Keith used himself as a reason to try move past all the pain he'd been keeping locked up. His boyfriend was probably fully aware that if he'd told him to do it for himself, it wouldn't have given him any motive. He felt too broken up inside for that. He wished he cared about himself more, wanted there to be a day where he lived not just for the people he cared about, but for _himself_.

“Some day,” Shiro said in agreement instead.

_Some day, we'll be able to sleep in this bed together without any nightmares or ghosts haunting us._

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> was in the middle of writing a hance fic when I was suddenly hit with shieth feels. hope you have enjoyed! :) 
> 
> you can find me on tumblr at eatjamfast, although i'm not super active!


End file.
